Bruce Dawe One Day Of The Year Analysis

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Life is made up of times of sadness and times of gladness. Compare Dawe’s poems and One Day of the Year when considering this. Life is a journey comprised of both wonderful and troubled experiences. Set in the 1960s, Seymour’s play “The One Day of the Year” (“Day”), makes a commentary on the nature of relationships, similar to that of Bruce Dawe’s poem “Enter without so much as knocking” (“Enter”). The theme of conflict is prevalent in these two texts, as well as another one of Dawe’s poem “Victorian Hangman tells his love” (“Hangman”). Both composers deal with these issues in quite different manners, however, both imply that a greater understanding of our life experiences can be achieved through a sense of connection. Everyone needs to…show more content…
The persona is not subjected to the artificiality of the world at first, and this represents the wonderful times in his life – the symbolic oxymoron and juxtaposition “a pure unadulterated fringe of sky, littered with stars no-one had got around to fixing up yet” exemplifies this concept. Contrasting with this stanza is the one preceding it. The use and capitalisation of imperatives such as “NO BREATHING EXCEPT BY ORDER” represents and foreshadows the troubled times in life. Dawe and Seymour have approached their ideas very differently. Where Seymour aimed to portray how it was important to establish a sense of connection with others, Dawe demonstrates how a lack of connection with others leads to a lack of understanding. The poem makes almost little to no explicit reference of the joyous things in life, such as love, relationships or marriage. Consequently, the persona in “Enter” is unable to cultivate a comprehension of the good and bad times in life, and thus, highlights the importance for the need for people to be a part of healthy…show more content…
The ongoing use of present tense clearly demonstrates the struggle that the hangman faces. Alluding to the hanging of Ronald Ryan, the hangman is attempting to distance himself from the event - “Dear one, forgive my appearing before you like this”, and the enjambment re-iterates this notion – “this is the state’s ... idea...” (First stanza). The utilisation of the extended metaphor of the wedding – for instance “This noose with which we’re wed if something of an heirloom” - portrays the chilling ironic parallels of a wonderful event, with a troubling experience. Furthermore, the irony in “that the tranquiliser which I trust you did not reject out of stubborn pride” accentuates the moral dilemma. Here, it is ironic because, the legalising of killing people has been deemed justifiable in this scenario. The simile and paradox, “you have been given a clean bill of health, like any modern bride” paints a cold image – here is a healthy person condemned to die, through a hypocritical act that has been justified. Much like Hughie, the hangman also finds it hard to differentiate between what is right and what is fair. Dawe, like Seymour, has depicted how these dilemmas are necessary in one’s life in order to truly realise the value of the need of both good and bad
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